Cherries moved up to that mark with a 1-0 win at Southampton on Thursday night, a fifth win in eight matches, which has seen them leap from bottom of the Premier League up to 14th. With five games to go, Cherries are seven points clear of the relegation zone. But boss O’Neil is not convinced the job is yet done, urging his side to be ready to “turn up right from the start” when they host relegation-threatened Leeds United on Sunday (2pm).
Put to him that finishing higher up the table would earn the club more prize money at the end of the year,
Gary O’Neil said: “At this moment, it’s not about each place, it’s still about avoiding the bottom three for me. I still believe 36 points could be relegated. I think maybe the world felt when we left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (after winning 3-2 on April 15) that we were fine. And then you get a performance against West Ham (4-0 loss) where we let ourselves down. I think that’s a real good lesson for the boys around achieving a good result that everyone thinks means that you’re okay and you’re good and everything’s rosy and then you get a real kick up the backside a few days later. We learnt that lesson last week and hopefully that prepares us for what will be a tough ask against Leeds, to go off the back of such a huge effort on Thursday night, two days’ less recovery (than Leeds) against a very intense team will be a big test for the boys come Sunday.”
I felt everyone in the world felt more comfortable after Tottenham and you see what can happen, you lose a game 4-0 to West Ham.
Gary O’Neil said: “Nottingham Forest beat Brighton and all of a sudden it’s lose at Southampton and we’re right back in it. Things can change very quickly. We’ve been on a good run, so other teams definitely can as well. I still think 36 points can be relegated, so a real clear focus from me. Thursday night is done. We enjoyed the fact that we managed to execute a gameplan against a team that could’ve been dangerous on the evening, fantastic that the fans got to enjoy another away victory, but nothing done yet. We need three points on Sunday.”
Discussing the challenge posed by Leeds,
Gary O’Neil added: “For us, it’s just making sure we start the game well, because we have conceded some early goals recently. And we were out of our last home game before it started. So making sure that we’re ready. There needs to be a lot of work done in a short space of time to make sure that we turn up right from the start of Leeds. We don’t have time to ease ourselves into this one. They play in an intense way. They’ll have seen the start against West Ham I’m sure and they’ll be keen to come and impose themselves in front of our crowd, to try and make it an awkward afternoon for us. Real focus from me on trying to get the boys ready to start off all guns blazing at two o’clock on Sunday.”
Asked if his team selection will be influenced by having got some vital points on the board on Thursday,
Gary O’Neil said: “I don’t think so. I don’t feel any more comfortable at all. I still feel like at this moment in time we could be relegated, so let’s approach the game exactly in that way, try and get the best team out there for energy, also for quality. There will be no rotation that wouldn’t have taken place in any other scenario. It will be business as usual from team selection wise.”
